In this blog post I describe how I am going to create my 40k Iron Hands army along the lines of the 40k universe (or fluff). I intend to make this the first post of two.

This post will cover the chapter and squads, while the second will list known and living characters.

In later joint posts I will also cover my 30k Iron Hands Legion, units and characters.

Guilliman’s Codex Astartes

Firstly a review of how a Space Marine Chapter is formed post heresy. Every chapter is no greater than one thousand marines and split between ten companies, plus supporting divisions with their own heraldry, titles, symbols and history.

The first company is the elite soldiers and veterans of the chapter. The second to fifth are battle companies; the front line of the chapter. The sixth to ninth are the specialist reserve companies and the tenth are formed of scouts. Scout companies are posed of fresh recruits from the chapter home world who later go on to join other companies within the chapter.

Companies are referred to by the Iron Hands as Clans. Clans once represented the competing organisations on the Iron Hands home world of Medusa before the coming of the Great Crusade. Ferrus Manus, primarch of the Iron Hands, kept the formation of Clans in order to encourage their competitive nature historically formed when once fighting for scarce planetary resources.

Each Clan has its own history and character which marines emulate upon joining or being promoted (i.e going from a recruit of the 10th to a full battle-brother of the 3rd).

There is some contradiction around this as previous materials (codexes and novels) state that clans do their own recruitment. However the Clan Ruakaan Supplement differs. I personally think this makes sense given the first companies status as the veteran company.

This is how the Iron Hands Chapter looks under the codex composition:

Armoury

Chapter Command

Reclusiam

Apothecarion

Librarius

1st Clan Avernii – Veteran Company

2nd Clan Garrsak – Battle Company

3rd Clan Raukaan – Battle Company

4th Clan Kaargul – Battle Company

5th Clan Haarmek – Battle Company

6th Clan Sorrgol – Reserve Tactical Company

7th Clan Borrgos – Reserve Tactical Company

8th Clan Morlaag – Reserve Assault Company

9th Clan Vurgaan – Reserve Devastator Company

10th Clan Company Dorrvok – Scout Company (recruits)

I will be basing my army primarily around Clan Raukaan, but also drawing from Squads in the 1st, 6th, and the 10th companies. This works well for me because it means I don’t waste most of my Forge World transfers 😉 and I can also use known characters and units from more than one clan.

Known Squads of the Clan Ruakaan

Just as companies are known as Clans, so too are squads known as Clave’s.
I’ve listed them here by Clave number, name, unit type, and any known characteristics in brackets.

Unfortunately these squads have only been mentioned by number and not name, but I have put them in because their existence and unit type is known.

Clan Garrsak, 6th Squad, Tactical.

Clan Avernii, 3rd Squad, Terminator.

Clan Haarmek, 10th Squad, Devastator.

Clan Kaargul, 4th Squad, Tactical.

Clan and Squad Markings

Squad members marked with the icon of their chapter on the left shoulder pad, and their clan on their right. On their left knee pad is marked the number of their Clave and on the right shin is the unit type (tactical, assault, veteran etc.)

So, yeah, this is mega-late given that the event took place over 3 weeks ago, but I thought it was about time I shared some photos I took while at Warhammer World on May 16th.

I didn’t manage to get my hands on a Warlord Titan, mainly because, y’know.. he’s £1240, but also because they had 6 and sold out of them in the first 10 minutes! I’m really trying hard not to save the money for one at the Forge World open day in July. I keep trying to convince myself that I need a Reaver first. Or need to finish my Knight house. I guess we’ll see. Frankly if Corax is out then I’ll just want him.

Anyway, here’s the first barrage of photos….. mainly new/upcoming stuff and Titans. I’ll post up the pictures from the exhibition hall at a later date.

What we know so far is that on May 24th there will be an announcement regarding the 7th Edition of Warhammer 40,000 and that it is more than a simple FAQ-Escalation-Stronghold Assault tie-in.

This is the real deal and comes less than two years after 6th edition was released. There are plenty of websites showing shots of the pages in the next White Dwarf where Jes Bickham is discussing it, and he states that there is now a dedicated ‘Psychic Phase’ (like 2nd edition, but playing like Warhammer Fantasy Battle’s magic phase) and that the Force Organisation Chart (FOC) is now optional.

You can use the FOC if you wish and indeed, it seems this will grant you certain – as yet unnamed – bonuses for your army. However, you can also field ‘Unbound’ lists which essentially means you can take whatever you like, subject to the unit size restrictions of course; you can’t have a squad of 48 Terminators or 14 Tau Crisis Suits whether you use the FOC or not!

The other noticeable change is that there are now many more mission and objective options. Indeed, objectives can even change in-game via the deck of 36 objective cards.

What we think we know….

We still expect the rules of Stronghold Assault and Escalation to be rolled into the main 7th Edition rule set. There is a belief that flyers will be less effective against ground targets when they are zooming a full speed, and that stationary ground units will be more effective against flyers than they currently are.

We think that units that are charged will be allowed to overwatch as usual but will also have to option to pass a leadership test and run rather than fight… however, the charging unit can take an iniative test and force a ‘sweeping advance’ manoeuvre against the running unit.

We also believe that sweeping advances out of combat and into another unit will be back.

Nerd-rage….

The internet is now full of raging gamers who are incensed at the release of an entirely new edition of Warhammer 40k – less than two years after 6th editions’ release – and the presumably £45-£50 price tag for a new rulebook, and then the release of a new boxed game replacing Dark Vengeance.

The unbound lists have also caused outrage (and some delight) amongst the gaming community. Talk of fielding 10 Heldrakes has been mentioned…. or an entire army of Runepriests, boosting each other with psychic powers and so on. The possibilities are endless really.

The general vibe seems to be that people are unhappy to say the least.

My thoughts….

What do I think? Well… I think I’ll wait and actually see how it all works and ties-in together before I express any delight or rage.

I’m surprised that an entirely new edition has come along less than 2 years after the last.

Many codexes still require an update – Orks, Dark Eldar, Blood Angels, Grey Knights – and it remains to be seen how much this new edition will crap on (or buff) some older books, such as the Necron or Chaos Space Marine Codex.

I am generally supportive of Games Workshop fiercely protecting their IP and their model pricing policy but I am now a bit concerned about the pricing, and here’s why: Games Workshop’s model development and production is an expensive process and the designers, sculptors and mold makers are a very talented bunch who earn their wage. The cost of molds for unit’s like Wraithknights or Riptides and other big kits is extremely high.

This is fine.

Games Workshop (currently) limit, for example, Tau players to 3 Riptides in a normal game of 40k. This goes some way to justifying the £50 price tag. They know that your average Tau player can only field 3, so they can (very) vaguely estimate how many Riptides they are likely to sell over time and they will determine that in order to make a good return on investment that the Riptide needs to sell at £50.

This is fine. (at least, with me it is.)

What concerns me is that with the new ‘unbound’ lists, you can throw the FOC chart away and field 10 or 12 Riptides. Now they are the main stay of your force as you don’t *need* to field Tau troop choices.

They are still £50.

Something is wrong with this.

I don’t imagine there will be a price reduction but maybe they would consider more ‘bundles’ with actual savings rather than the ‘One-click’ bundles that are just there to save you the 14 seconds of your life adding items to your basket rather than actually saving you money.

Forge World provide good bundle offers and I’m surprised that Games Workshop – who are the same company after all -, don’t offer similar deals.

I’m off topic here a little now, but I do believe this is a genuine gripe that gets overlooked.